On
9 July 1835, at exactly the minimum allowable age of fourteen
years, he was bound as an apprentice lighterman to his father
John as master at St. Saviour's and completed the seven year
apprenticeship on 14 Jul 1842 14. No apprentices
were subsequently recorded bound to him. When aged 20 he
was listed in "The Times" newspaper, through his father,
as having donated five guineas (£5. 5. 0) to the
industry's charity - "Almshouses for Aged, Decayed, and Maimed
Watermen & Lightermen of the River Thames and their Wives
and Widows" 6.
As his father's business was in
part that of corn merchant operated from the granary at Clink
Street from early in life he would have had some experience
in that line of business. Following his marriage in 1849 he
entered into partnership with his father-in-law James Vogan
and son James Vogan Jr. as a corn factor and successfully
followed that occupation for the rest of his
life 7.
His father-in-law James Vogan
was first noted listed in a 1820 London directory as a
seedsman at 17 Tooley Street, Southwark, located near the
Clink Street business premises of Alfred's father John,
but on the opposite Bermondsey side of London Bridge.
By 1841 he was listed at 31 Tooley Street as a corn dealer
and by 1847 trading as James Vogan and Son. By 1850
the listing had become James Vogan Son & Raymond.
In the 1851 Post Office London Directory Alfred's personal
listing was given as - "Raymond Alfred Mead, corn merchant,
see Vogan Jas. Son & Raymond". In directories from
1850 to 1855 the business was listed as - James Vogan Son
& Raymond, corn merchants, Mill Wharf, Mill Street,
Bermondsey and No. 1 Maze, Tooley Street, Southwark. By
1855 this company also traded from No. 68 New Corn
Exchange and No. 60 Old Corn Exchange 7.
Following his marriage
Alfred resided at several addresses in an area that can
be reasonably described as the suburb of Blackheath that
are today (2007) within the Boroughs of Lewisham and
Greenwich. The 1861 census gave his address as No. 4, Hyde
Vale Villas, Greenwich, occupation as corn factor, and that
his household employed three female domestic servants.
At both the 1871 and 1881 census the number of servants
was four. From 1870 until his death he resided in a
three-storey family home at
14 Morden Road, Blackheath Park that by 2007 had been
re-numbered from No. 14 to No. 18 7. In the
1891 year of death the census listed his occupation as corn
factor and that his household comprising five unmarried
children and two female domestic servants. His probate
notice in The Times
stated he was late of 47, Mark Lane in the City of
London and of 14, Morden Road, Blackheath Park and
the executors of the will were civil engingeer son Sydney
and nephew John Raymond who was the eldest son of
Alfred's late barrister-at-law brother John Raymond
(1817-1872). The estate valuation for stamp duty was
a then substantial £26,736 10.

SOURCES:1 International
Genealogical Index (IGI)2The Times of London, 30 Apr 1891. -
Legal Notice.3St. Catherines
House Marriage Indexes - June Qtr. 1849, vol. 5, p. 373 reg.
Lewisham 4Ibid
16
June 1849, p. 9, col. A. MARRIED
- On the 14th inst. at Lee Church, Kent, by the Rev. George
Luck, Alfred Mead, youngest son of John Raymond, Esq., of St.
Saviour's, Southwark, to Emma Louisa, youngest daughter of James Vogan,
Esq., of Lee. Compiler Note: - A 1894 Gazetteer described Lee
as a village, and a parish in Kent, 1½ mile SSE of Greenwich, 6
miles from London, both itself and its environs within the parish
are a resort of merchants and wealthy families from the metropolis
... a new church built in 1842 was taken down. The present church
(built 1868) stands beside the old one...5St.
Catherines House Death Index 1878, reg. Hastings, vol. 2b, p.21.6The Times of London, 15 Jul. 1841,
p. 1., col A7 9
Sep 2007 email from Neil Rhind MBE FSA of England, architectural
historian & 1 Oct 2007 email advising extensive directory
listings for Raymond and Vogan family businesses from
1811 to 1855. 81871
& 1881 census indexes at http://www.ancestry.com9England BDM
Indexes10
Probate Index (1891, folio 431) entry advised by
Lesley Fletcher of London:- Raymond, Alfred Mead.
Personal Estate £25,707 11s 8d. Resworn Oct 1891
£26,736 18s 4d, 25 April. The will of Alfred Mead
Raymond, late of 47, Mark Lane,in the City of London,
and of 14, Morden Rd, Blackheath Park, in the county
of Kent, cornfactor, who died 8 April 1891 at 14,
Morden Rd, was proved at the Principal Registry, by
Sydney Raymond, of 14, Morden Rd, civil engineer, the
son, and John Raymond, of 3 King's Bench Walk,Temple,
in the City of London, barrister at law, the nephew,
the Executors.